Russia threatens force in Ukraine

Apr. 23, 2014
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Ukrainians pray during a rally for a united Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday. Poster at right reads, "Putin stop." Ukraine's highly publicized goal to recapture police stations and government buildings seized by pro-Russia forces in the east produced little action on the ground Wednesday but ignited foreboding words from Moscow. / Olga Ivashchenko AP

by By Olga Rudenko, Special for USA TODAY

by By Olga Rudenko, Special for USA TODAY

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian police liberated a small town in the east of the country from pro-Russian separatist groups Wednesday, a day after Ukraine's president revived a military offensive.

Police took back Svyatogorsk, a small town close to the city of Slovyansk. Pro-Russian separatists still occupied government buildings in major eastern cities such as Donetsk and Luhansk.

President Oleksandr Turchynov accused Russia of flouting the terms of a Geneva truce agreement by stirring unrest among separatists who have refused to abide by truce terms that they vacate the buildings.

One of two men found dead near Slovyansk, which is controlled by pro-Russian protesters, was Volodymyr Rybak, a member of the president's party. Both men were tortured, then drowned.

"The terrorists challenged not only Ukraine but the whole international community when they defiantly mocked the Geneva statement," Turchynov said. "These crimes are conducted with full support of Russia."

Rybak had attempted to take down a flag of the People's Republic of Donetsk raised by separatists on a City Council building in Horlivka, where he was a council deputy and where several administrative buildings have been seized.

Separatists have taken over government buildings in at least eight cities after the ouster of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

The Kiev Post newspaper reported that 16 people have been killed or kidnapped during the separatist unrest, and Simon Ostrovsky, a journalist for Brooklyn-based Vice News, may have been taken this week. Ostrovsky has not been seen since early Tuesday in the eastern city of Slovyansk where the fluent Russian speaker, who holds an Israeli passport, had been reporting.

Russia ramped up its threat to invade, saying it has a legitimate interest in protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine, though it is ethnic Russians who have occupied buildings and thrown out elected officials.

"If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians, have been attacked directly ... I do not see any other way but to respond in the full accordance with international law," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told satellite TV channel Russia Today.

He called on Ukraine's army to leave the eastern region.

May residents in the east oppose Russian intervention. "This is wrong," said Oleksiy Zotov, 25, from Donetsk. "I was born here. Why must some armed people come here to protect me from some non-existent danger?"

Separatists in Donetsk and other eastern cities call for a referendum on joining Russia on May 11. A recently published poll by the Kiev Sociology Institute found that 28% of people in the Donetsk region support joining Russia.

According to Zotov, the region is not fully pro-Russian, but he said pro-Ukrainian citizens avoid expressing their views publicly with rallies and demonstrations for fear of reprisal.

"Because the pro-Ukrainian people of the east sit at home, from a distance, it looks like the region is all pro-Russian," he said.